Thursday, November 10, 2005

Thurs - Ex Microsoft and Oracle CFO becomes CEO at Liberty Media

John Malone has persuaded Greg Maffei, up until recently CFO at Oracle to join Liberty Media as CEO.

Liberty Media is a loosish collection of investements in Cable and media assets. Liberty Media owns QVC, Starz Encore and a controversial 19% ownership in News Corp. John Malone believes passionately that media companies need to change in the face of the broadband internet in particular.

Maffei seems a good match, having experience in the tech sector, in cable and in telecomms and a staunch M&A deal guy. This must mean that Liberty will soon be back on the acquisition path and could be bad news for Murdoch at News Corp?!